Multi-Vendor Multi-Loyalty Currency Program

ABSTRACT

Loyalty programs can be operated within a payment processing system having multiple vendors, thereby providing access to detailed transaction data and with the flexibility for customization of the loyalty programs themselves, by establishing a communication for the transfer of data via a customer-facing channel. When the payment processing system processes a transaction between a merchant and an account holder, in addition to obtaining payment for the merchant from the account via an acquirer and an issuer, respectively, a transaction handler tabulates and stores different types of loyalty currencies in a loyalty reward account associated with the account holder if the account holder is enrolled in a loyalty program and criteria for applying the loyalty program are satisfied. The account holder is provided access to the loyalty account via the customer-facing channel.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/639,277, filed Jun. 30, 2017, which is adivisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/156,155,filed Jan. 15, 2014 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,727,887 on Aug. 8,2017, which is a continuation application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/177,530, filed Jul. 22, 2008 and issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,660,893 on Feb. 25, 2014, which claims priority to Provisional U.S.Patent Application No. 60/951,457, filed Jul. 23, 2007, the entiredisclosures of which applications are hereby incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

Various implementations, and combinations thereof, are related topayment processing programs, more particularly to loyalty programs, andmost particularly to a loyalty program within a payment processingsystem having multiple vendors.

BACKGROUND

Loyalty programs provide consumers with incentives to shop at certainloyalty program participating facilities, or to show loyalty to aparticular merchant, or to a service provider such as a financialinstitution (e.g., Chase Manhattan Bank). In addition to receivingdiscounts or financial awards, an incentive to the consumer may includeredeemable goods or services, or special recognition of some sort, suchas an upgrade to goods or services purchased by the consumer. Often,financial institutions, such as an issuing bank or acquiring bank,provide financial and logistic support to the loyalty program. Loyaltyprograms may be associated with various transaction payment processprograms such as a credit card program, a charge card program, a debitcard program, a prepaid card program, or a gift card program.

One indicator of success for any loyalty program is how well it cantarget consumers that will be positively influenced to participate inthe program in exchange for receiving the incentives described by andprovided through the loyalty program.

These loyalty programs are typically constructed, marketed, qualified,fulfilled, or refined with limited interaction or collaboration betweenthe various participants of the programs, where the participants mayinclude merchants, financial institutions such as acquirers and issuers,transaction handlers such as credit card companies (i.e., Visa,MasterCard, American Express, etc.), and consumers such as an accountholder. For example, a merchant may wish to participate in a co-brandedcredit card loyalty program (i.e., a Southwest Airlines Chase ManhattanBank Visa Credit Card). The merchant finds, however, that it will beconfined to loyalty program features set solely by the issuing bank(i.e., Chase Manhattan Bank), the features include an overly restrictivecredit limit, a conservative bonus mile to purchase ratio, or a limitedredemption points option. As such, the merchant will be precluded fromfinely targeting the merchant's most desired consumers would not bepositively influenced to participate in the program in exchange forreceiving such limited incentives. The level of loyalty program featureconfinement is especially prominent among merchants with a smallerportion of the market who lack influence over the loyalty program andits participants.

A further drawback is that loyalty programs may have limited access todetailed transaction data. For example, some loyalty programparticipants, such as financial institutions, may rely on their owntransaction data records and history to determine the type of incentiveto provide to a consumer for conducing one or more transactions. Thisdata history, however, may be limited in scope depending on the degreeof transaction specificity that the issuer collects or is able tomaintain. Similarly, merchants wishing to set up a loyalty program maysolicit financial institutions for transaction data history information,without success in gaining access to the full scope of the transactiondata. Even if a merchant gains access to the transaction data, thetransaction data may not be in a form the merchant can effectivelyutilize.

The lack of uniformity in handing transaction data may hamper accuratecommunication between participants in a loyalty program. For example,acquirers may identify a single merchant differently; one acquirer mayidentify a merchant by its name and address while another acquirer mayidentify the same merchant by its name and franchise store number.Similarly, each participant in the loyalty program may be accustomed toprocessing transaction data in a particular format that may not be thesame as the format of another participant of the loyalty program. Forexample, a merchant that is an airline company may analyze transactiondata in units of “frequent flyer program bonus miles per dollar” whilean issuer may record dollars spent per month.

Thus, there is a need for a loyalty program having access to detailedtransaction data while maintaining a uniform communication protocolbetween the participants of the program. Further, there is a need for aloyalty program capable of accommodating customizations from its variousparticipants.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

In one implementation, for each transaction processed by a transactionhandler, a comparison is made of at least one of an account, an issuerof the account, a merchant, and at least one of the items in thetransaction to loyalty data in a loyalty database to find at least onepredetermined match. Each predetermined match has an associated loyaltyreward that is a function of the transaction and is denominated in aloyalty currency. For each predetermined match, the loyalty currency ofthe associated loyalty reward is added to a balance of the same loyaltycurrency in a loyalty account associated with the account of the accountholder. The loyalty account associated with the account of the accountholder can have a balance for each of a plurality of different loyaltycurrencies. The associated loyalty reward can be calculated as afunction of the transaction at least in part from the number of afinancial currency for the payment for the transaction, the number ofthe items in the transaction, the number of the items in thetransaction, and/or the number of a particular said item in thetransaction.

In another implementation, a loyalty program is operated within apayment processing system by establishing a communication protocol forthe transfer of data via a customer-facing channel. When the paymentprocessing system processes a transaction engaged in between a merchantand an account holder, in addition to obtaining payment for the merchantfrom the account associated with the consumer transaction deviceinvolved, a loyalty currency is stored in a loyalty account associatedwith the account holder if the account holder is enrolled in a loyaltyprogram and if criteria for applying the loyalty program are satisfied.The account holder is provided access to the loyalty account via thecustomer-facing channel.

In yet another implementation, a loyalty program is operated within apayment processing system by establishing a communication protocol forthe transfer of data via a customer-facing channel and by storingcriteria associated with each loyalty program operated within thepayment processing system in a loyalty program database. Further, aloyalty account is configured in an account holder database for eachaccount holder enrolled in a loyalty program operated within the paymentprocessing system. When the payment processing system processes atransaction engaged in between a merchant and an account holder, inaddition to obtaining payment for the merchant from the accountassociated with the consumer transaction device involved, a loyaltycurrency is stored in the loyalty account associated with the accountholder engaged in the transaction. This currency is stored if theaccount holder is associated with one of the loyalty accounts that isconfigured in the account holder database and if the plurality ofcriteria associated with one of the loyalty programs in which theaccount holder is enrolled is satisfied. The account holder is providedaccess the loyalty account via the customer-facing channel.

In still another implementation, a payment processing system is providedin which a merchant engages in a transaction with an account holder uponan account associated with a portable consumer device issued by anissuer. A transaction handler further coordinates the transfer ofmonetary currency to an acquirer of the merchant and the transfer ofloyalty currency to a loyalty account of the account holder in responseto the transaction satisfying the application criteria of a loyaltyprogram and in response to the account holder being enrolled in thatloyalty program. The account holder accesses the loyalty account using acustomer-facing channel that is in communication with the transactionhandler and is provided by a sponsor of the loyalty program.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Implementations of the invention will become more apparent from thedetailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with thedrawings, in which like elements bear like reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a block level diagram illustrating an exemplary paymentprocessing system;

FIG. 2 is a block level diagram illustrating an exemplary multi-vendorloyalty program operated within the system illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an exemplary implementationof a loyalty program according to the implementation depicted in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Implementations propose a structure for developing and executing aloyalty program. As background information for the foregoing andfollowing description, as will be readily understood by persons ofordinary skill in payment processing systems, a transaction such as apayment transaction in a payment processing system can includeparticipation from different entities that are each a component of thepayment processing system. An exemplary payment processing system isdepicted in FIG. 1 as the payment processing system 100. The paymentprocessing system 100 includes the issuer 104, the transaction handler106, such as a credit card company, the acquirer 108, the merchant 110,or the consumer 102. The acquirer 108 and the issuer 104 can communicatethrough the transaction handler 106. Merchant 110 may utilize at leastone Point of Service “POS” terminal that can communicate with theacquirer 108, the transaction handler 106, or the issuer 104. Thus, thePOS terminal is in operative communication with the payment processingsystem 100.

Typically, a transaction begins with the consumer 102 presenting aportable consumer device 112 to the merchant 110 to initiate an exchangefor a good or service. The portable consumer device 112 may include apayment card, a gift card, a smartcard, a smart media, a payroll card, ahealth care card, a wrist band, a tag, a badge, a machine readablemedium containing account information, a keychain device such as theSPEEDPASS® commercially available from Exxon-Mobil Corporation, asupermarket discount card, a cellular telephone, a personal digitalassistant, a pager, a security card, an access card, a wirelessterminal, or a transponder. The portable consumer device 112 may includevolatile and/or non-volatile memory to store information such as theaccount number or an account holder's name.

The merchant 110 may use the POS terminal to obtain account information,such as an account number, from the portable consumer device 112. Theportable consumer device 112 may interface with the POS terminal using amechanism including any suitable electrical, magnetic, or opticalinterfacing system such as a contactless system that uses a radiofrequency or a magnetic field recognition system, or a contact systemthat uses a magnetic stripe reader. The POS terminal sends a transactionauthorization request to the issuer 104 of the portable consumer device112. Alternatively, or in combination, the portable consumer device 112may communicate with the issuer 104, the transaction handler 106, or theacquirer 108.

The issuer 104 may authorize the transaction using the transactionhandler 106. The transaction handler 106 may also clear the transaction.Authorization includes the issuer 104, or the transaction handler 106 onbehalf of the issuer 104, authorizing the transaction in connection withthe issuer 104's instructions such as through the use of business rules.The business rules could include instructions or guidelines from thetransaction handler 106, the consumer 102, the merchant 110, theacquirer 108, the issuer 104, a financial institution, or combinationsthereof. The transaction handler 106 may maintain a log or history ofauthorized transactions. Once approved, merchant 110 will record theauthorization, allowing the consumer 102 to receive the good or service.

Merchant 110 may, at discrete periods, such as the end of the day,submit a list of authorized transactions to the acquirer 108 or othercomponents of the payment processing system 100. The transaction handler106 may compare the submitted authorized transaction list with its ownlog of authorized transactions. If a match is found, the transactionhandler 106 may route authorization transaction amount requests from thecorresponding acquirer 108 to the corresponding issuer 104 involved ineach transaction. Once the acquirer 108 receives the payment of theauthorized transaction amount from the issuer 104, it can forward thepayment to merchant 110 less any transaction costs, such as fees. If thetransaction involves a debit or pre-paid card, the acquirer 108 maychoose not to wait for the initial payment prior to paying the merchant110.

There may be intermittent steps in the foregoing process, some of whichmay occur simultaneously. For example, the acquirer 108 can initiate theclearing and settling process, which can result in payment to theacquirer 108 for the amount of the transaction. The acquirer 108 mayrequest from the transaction handler 106 that the transaction be clearedand settled. Clearing includes the exchange of financial informationbetween the issuer 104 and the acquirer 108 and settlement includes theexchange of funds. The transaction handler 106 can provide services inconnection with settlement of the transaction. The settlement of atransaction includes depositing an amount of the transaction settlementfrom a settlement house, such as a settlement bank, which thetransaction handler 106 typically chooses, into a clearinghouse, such asa clearing bank, that the acquirer 108 typically chooses. The issuer 104deposits the same from a clearinghouse, such as a clearing bank, whichthe issuer 104 typically chooses into the settlement house. Thus, atypical transaction involves various entities to request, authorize, andfulfill processing the transaction.

Payment processing system 100 may also process loyalty programs. Forexample, when the consumer 102 makes a purchase using the portableconsumer device 112 at a store of the merchant 110, the consumer 102 maybe eligible to receive an incentive, such as a frequent flyer point,that can be applied toward a reward, such as a free airline ticket. Inone implementation, when consumer 102 makes such a purchase, theconsumer's 102 eligibility is determined by an implementer. By way ofexample, and not by way of limitation, an implementer may be thetransaction handler 106. In such an implementation, the transactionhandler 106, upon receiving the transaction data, may compare the datato a database of loyalty programs to determine if the transaction meetsthe eligibility requirements of any loyalty program, the rules andparameters of each loyalty program having been established by itssponsor. In some implementations, the sponsor may be the issuer. In yetother implementations, the sponsor may be, for example, a transactionhandler, such as a credit card company, an acquirer, a merchant, athird-party, or a combination thereof.

If the transaction meets the eligibility requirements of a given loyaltyprogram, the transaction handler may then calculate a loyalty currencyto be applied to a reward account of the consumer using rules andparameters of the program. The loyalty currency may, in someimplementations, be frequent flyer points that can be applied toward afree airline ticket. In other implementations, the loyalty currency maybe cash back, future discounts, coupons, donations to selectedcharities, special rates, or any other form of loyalty program reward,or combination thereof.

For example, the consumer 102 may be a participant of a Saks FifthAvenue® loyalty program having a purchase-to-point ratio of $100(U.S.)/1 point. Upon receiving a request to process a transaction for$1000 (U.S.) between the consumer 102 and a merchant 110, in this casebeing a Saks Fifth Avenue® store, the transaction handler 106 wouldcompare the transaction data to the eligibility requirements of allknown loyalty programs. Once it is determined the transaction meets theeligibility requirements of a loyalty program, here that of the SaksFifth Avenue® loyalty program, the transaction handler 106 calculatesthe loyalty currency based on the rules and parameters of the loyaltyprogram, in this illustration equaling 10 points. Once the points aredetermined, the value of the currency (here being measured by ‘points’)can be tracked and accumulated in an reward account at a point bank,that may, for example, also be a function performed by the transactionhandler 106.

In one implementation, the point bank may have standardized input andoutput format structures that are communicated to sponsors of loyaltyprograms such that communication with the point bank is facilitated andcontrolled. The standardized input and output format structures allowfor a plurality of vendors that may be third-parties to interact in acompatible fashion with the point bank and provide services to thesponsors and consumers of the loyalty program. Thus, for example,although the same entity is acting as the point bank for each loyaltyprogram, the appearance and functionality of each loyalty program can betailored to the sponsor's or consumer's needs. Sponsors that havemultiple or complex loyalty programs can collaborate with third-partyvendors to assist in each program's development and execution. Vendorsmay, for example, provide services such as hosting websites, managingrewards catalogs, facilitating fulfillment of loyalty programincentives, and providing customer support.

Where a third-party vendor 114 is used to establish customer-facingchannels, consumer 102 may use the third-party vendor 114's serviceswhen redeeming, verifying, updating information, or otherwise accessingtheir reward account. Through the use of standardized input and outputformat structures, communication with the implementer (i.e., thetransaction handler 106) is transparent to the consumer 102, and theconsumer 102 will perceive an experience of interacting solely with theloyalty program sponsor. Thus, through collaboration with thethird-party vendor 114, the loyalty program sponsor can, for example,create a custom interface through a website that they have alreadyestablished and branded themselves rather then having the consumer 102utilize an unfamiliar interface provided by the point bank.

In another implementation, problems can be addressed or solved by animplementer who is providing a loyalty program and also keeping track ofloyalty program currency in a loyalty program currency bank (i.e., apoint bank), where the implementer is also processing transactions thatare eligible for point credit in the loyalty program. In thisimplementation, an efficiency is gained by allowing this implementer tocalculate the loyalty points for account holders (e.g., cardholders) asopposed to transmitting that information to a third-party for processingand points calculation. Rather, this implementer can perform thisfunction on behalf of all of the issuers in the payment system that areparticipating in the loyalty program. Moreover, this implementationallows for multiple vendors to share a common set of standards. Thissharing makes these vendors interoperable in the loyalty program so asto allow participating member banks (e.g., issuers) to contract withthese vendors for the provision of programs (e.g., customer-facingprogram functions), such as providing websites, providing rewardcatalogs, customer service, and marketing activities. By implementingsuch a multiple and interoperable vendor model for a loyalty program,the implementer is able to provide a baseline loyalty program processingservice in a cost effective manner, while allowing the member banks(e.g., issuers) and other participants in the loyalty program sufficientflexibility to create different consumer (i.e., account holder orcardholder) experiences. As such, the implementer may also be operatingthe “core” component of the payment processing system (i.e., such as theexemplary system shown in FIG. 1), while member banks (e.g., issuers)contract with the multiple and interoperable vendors to help the banksto differentiate themselves on customer service and reward options.

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrates an exemplaryimplementation of a loyalty program structure 200 that is compatiblewith a plurality consumer interfaces provided by different vendorsand/or agents thereof. A bulk file management system 202 may be used tofacilitate communication of information in data files from externalentities with an operational data store 204 within a point bank. Theoperational data store 204 may be a database such as a relationaldatabase and may store all information pertaining to each consumer'sreward account. The data files may include: (i) real time settlementfiles (“RSI”) obtained after the purchase of a good or service from themerchant has been cleared and settled; (ii) participation agreementfiles (“PA”) from the issuer that delineate how the issuer has agreed toparticipate in the loyalty program; (iii) earn engine files that mayinclude loyalty program business rules; and (iii) other loyalty programfiles that delineate the parameters of the loyalty program such as: (a)files containing consumer profiles including an account number withinthe payment processing system; (b) a category of the of the account suchas a “gold account; (c) the number of people on the account; and thelike. The data files may further include information for the point banksuch as transaction loads, bonus loads, bonus adjustments, aggregationfiles related to the account associated with the payment processingsystem, and fulfillment transaction histories (e.g., the history oftransactions involving the account associated with the paymentprocessing system).

Once an activity triggers an incentive, such as a purchase at the storeof the merchant, information from the operational data store 204 maypass to the loyalty program incentive calculator 206. The loyaltyprogram incentive calculator 206 may be an engine that utilizes softwareto run calculations given loyalty program business rules, such asloyalty reward and currency algorithms, to determine whether thetransaction qualifies for an incentive of the loyalty program, and tocompute the amount and form of any of several different loyaltycurrencies that have been earned. This information can be communicatedto the operational data store 204. There, the particular type of loyaltycurrency that has been earned by the consumer is added to a balance ofthat loyal currency maintained at reference numeral 220(d) within theconsumer's reward account 218(c) of operational data store 204. Withinoperational data store 204, which is preferably maintained by thetransaction handler or agent thereof, there are reward accounts 218(1)through 218(C), and wherein within each reward account 218(c) there arecurrency balances 220(1) through 220(D).

In some implementations, the loyalty program incentive calculator 206may further include issuer and merchant transaction histories such astransaction histories involving points, bonuses, and incentives. Theloyalty program incentive calculator 206 may also access issuer orconsumer profiles to implement the loyalty program business rules forthe loyalty program in which both the issuer and the consumer areparticipants.

Regular maintenance activities on the reward accounts and thecoordination of outgoing reports and summaries may be conducted througha batch activities system 208 in communication with the operational datastore 204. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, suchactivities may include sweeping the reward account daily, monitoring theinactivity of a reward account, monitoring of point expiration orvalidity, creating reports, file management activities such as fileextracts and file updates, calculation of fees, and generation of bills.Consequently, daily, weekly, and monthly events such as reward accountmonitoring and maintenance can be done in communication with theoperational data store 204.

Interface layer 210 provides a means for a participant 216(b) tointeract with the operational data store 204, where the participants 216in FIG. 2 include participant 216(1) through participant 216(B). In oneimplementation, participants 216 may be sponsors of the loyalty programsusing an interface 214(a) established by the point bank, the interfaces214 in FIG. 2 include interface 214(1) through interface 214(A). Inanother implementation, the participants 216 may be consumers, whereeach interface 214(a) is a customer-facing program provided by a sponsoror its agent of a different loyalty program or by a third-party vendoror agent thereof. Each interface 214(a) communicates with theoperational data store 204 using a standard input and output protocoldefined by the point bank.

Where a participant is a sponsor of a loyalty program, interface 214(a)may be used to create and manage an issuer sponsor. For example, thesponsor may set up preferences for its loyalty program business rules,such as delineating a loyalty currency that it can offer to a consumerwho is utilizing a portable consumer device in one or more transactions,and where the device is associated with that sponsor.

The consumer who participates in the sponsor's loyalty program maymanage a reward account stored at the point bank via an interface214(a), the interface 214(a) being a customer-facing program. Where theinterface 214(a) has been provided by the sponsor or by third-partyvendor at the direction of the sponsor, the sponsor can choose to allowthe consumer to, for example, check the consumer's reward accountbalance, opt-in or opt-out of certain features of a loyalty program, orredeem incentives. Alternatively or in combination, the interface 214(a)may offer consumer support and access to administrative services.Additionally, the interface layer 210 may include a security servicelayer such that data may be encrypted as it is passed from theoperational data store 204 to the interface 214 accessed by theparticipant 216.

In collaboration with the sponsors, third-party vendors may furtherprovide services including hosting the consumer (account holder) website, cataloging the services that the issuer or the acquirer canprovide to the consumer or the merchant respectively, fulfillment ofloyalty program incentives, providing voice response unit (“VRU”) andconsumer services.

One entity may provide several components of the loyalty programstructure 200 while other entities, such as third-parties, may provideother components. In one implementation, a transaction handler may: (i)access the transaction handler's data files stored in the bulk filemanagement system 202; (ii) communicate with the operational data store204; (iii) determine the eligibility of a purchase toward an incentive;(iv) determine the value of the incentive via the loyalty programincentive calculator 206; (v) conduct activities using the batchactivities system 208 on the reward account stored in the operationaldata store 204; and (vi) communicate with aspects of the interface layer210 while interacting with a plurality of vendors that provide theinterfaces 214(1)-214(A).

As previously mentioned, compatibility between the plurality of vendorsproviding interfaces 214 and the transaction handler providing the othercomponents in the loyalty program structure 200 may be achieved viastandardized communication formats. For example, one interface 214(a)may be an interactive account holder website that accepts consumer inputsuch as account holder name. The account holder name may be in theformat of first name, middle initial, and last name. Alternatively, orin combination, the account holder may enter an account number that isassociated with the payment processing system. The account number may bein the format such that the last four digits must be entered along withan expiration date for the portable consumer device associated with theaccount. In another example, the sponsor may create a profile using aninterface 214(a) such that a Globally Unique IDentifier (GUID) isutilized to identify the issuer. Here, the GUID will be unique withinthe payment processing system. The GUID for the sponsor may be in astandard format that the transaction handler utilizes to process thetransactions of the issuer within the loyalty program structure 200.

To illustrate, a first issuer, may customize the services that the firstissuer can provide to the consumer despite the fact that the firstissuer is utilizing the same transaction handler to process transactionsthrough the payment processing system as a second issuer. The firstissuer may contract with third-party vendors to provide a unique websitedescribing the loyalty program in which the first issuer is aparticipant. For example, the first issuer may have its own logo on thewebsite describing the loyalty program that the first issuer is aparticipant and/or the first issuer may advertise a point-to-purchaseratio that the issuer can provide to the consumer which may be differentfrom a point-to-purchase ratio that the second issuer may be able toprovide to the consumer. In this manner, the first issuer maydistinguish itself from the second issuer within the payment processingsystem.

Referring to FIG. 3, a schematic flowchart illustrates an exemplaryimplementation of a loyalty program according to the implementationdepicted in FIG. 2. In this illustration the point bank is discussed interms of the transaction handler. However, those of ordinary skill inthe art will realize that the point bank may be another entity eitherinternal to or external of a payment processing system without changingthe fundamentals of the discussion.

Initially, a transaction handler establishes a database or other recordof the rules and parameters of each loyalty program sponsored by asponsor (302). In one implementation, to establish a loyalty program,the sponsor may utilize an interface provided by the transaction handlerthat is capable of communicating with an operational data store. Inanother implementation, a sponsor may use another means to communicatewith the transaction handler, such as through a representative.

In conjunction with establishing a loyalty database, the transactionhandler also establishes a database of consumer reward accounts whereina plurality of different loyalty currencies will be banked for eachconsumer enrolled in a loyalty program maintained in the loyaltydatabase (304). When the transaction handler receives a consumer file ofa consumer that has enrolled in a loyalty program, the transactionhandler opens a loyalty account for the consumer (306).

Upon the receipt of a request to process a transaction that was engagedin by a merchant and a consumer upon a consumer account issued by anissuer (308), the transaction handler compares the transaction data withthe eligibility requirements of the loyalty programs stored in theloyalty database (310). If the transaction meets the eligibilityrequirements of a loyalty program, the transaction handler utilizes therules and parameters of the program to calculate and award one or moredifferent types of loyalty currencies to the consumer's reward account(312). Finally, the transaction handler processes the transaction asdescribed in connection with FIG. 1 (314).

Once a loyalty program or a reward account has been established, thetransaction handler may further receive a request to access informationfrom the operation data store via an interface using a standardinput-output protocol established by the transaction handler (316).Where the request is received from an issuer, or other sponsor of aloyalty program, the request is for information pertaining to theissuer's loyalty program. The issuer may further use the user interfaceto modify the rules and parameters of a loyalty program. Alternatively,where a request is received from a consumer, information pertaining tothe consumer's reward account is accessed. Using the interface, theconsumer may then, for example, choose to opt in or out of features,redeem loyalty currency, or update personal information.

The interface used may be provided and hosted by the transactionhandler. In other implementations, the interface is provided by theloyalty program's sponsor. In yet other implementations, the sponsoruses a third-party vendor to provide the interface. In each case, theinterface communicates with the operational data store using standardcommunication protocol, thereby making the communication with thetransaction handler transparent to the participant.

The loyalty program structure described can be utilized within anexemplary automated loyalty program platform associated with the paymentprocessing system. The loyalty program participants can utilize portionsof the vendor services, such as web site interfaces that may be linkedto the automated loyalty program platform, to develop or implement theparameters of the loyalty program.

In one implementation the automated loyalty program platform is aplatform that the merchant or the issuer may access to set up loyaltyprogram rules and/or parameters that the merchant wants to market toconsumers. Once the loyalty program rules and/or parameters are set up,the automated loyalty program platform automatically generatespromotions based on the rules and/or parameters and automaticallyimplements the loyalty program rules and/or parameters as paymenttransactions are conducted through the payment processing system.

The automated loyalty program platform may be accessible to the merchantthrough the use of a device having a hardware component such as a CPUand/or a terminal and a software component such as code, microcode,applets, or modules that assist the merchant in conducting its business.The device, such as a POS terminal or a computer, may access theautomated loyalty program platform through a network. The network may bethe Internet.

The merchant may use the device to access the automated loyalty programplatform to set up at least one parameter and/or loyalty program rulefor a loyalty program promotion that the merchant wishes to market topast or potential consumers. For example, the merchant may set up aprofile linked to a unique identifier for the merchant. The profile mayinclude loyalty program rules that govern the creation andimplementation of promotions that the merchant wants to market toconsumers. The loyalty program rules may take on the form of “ifparameter one occurs then offer parameter two.” For example, thepromotion may be a coupon promotion, such as a coupon indicating that ifa purchase at the merchant's store made with an account associated to apayment processing system exceeds $100 in value, then 10% will be takenoff the purchase value; the promotion may be a spend-and-get promotionsuch as if the consumer conducts four purchases made with the account atthe merchant's store, the consumer's fifth purchase at the merchant'sstore will result in $10.00 being credited to the account associatedwith the payment processing system. The loyalty program rules and/orparameters may be predetermined such that the merchant picks them a lacart within a menu provided by the automated loyalty program platform,or they may be customized.

The automated loyalty program platform may also be in communication withthe transaction handler and/or the issuer. Therefore, the automatedloyalty program platform may access a transaction history databasemaintained by the transaction handler. Alternatively, the automatedloyalty program platform may be part of the transaction handler. Theautomated loyalty program platform may communicate the merchant'sloyalty program rules and/or parameters along with portions of thetransaction information it received from the merchant's POS device inorder to receive validation that the issuer supports the application ofthe transaction toward the loyalty program. For example, the consumermay have a promotion for $20 credit to be applied to the consumer'saccount within the payment processing system when making a $100 purchaseat the merchant's store. When the automated loyalty program platformreceives a transaction message indicating that the consumer has made apurchase of $100 at the merchant's store, it may send this informationto the consumer's issuer to verify that the issuer agrees that the $100purchase qualifies for the $20 promotion and for the issuer to indicatethat the $20.00 credit will be applied and reflected in the consumer'sstatement of account.

For example, the merchant may be an office equipment store. The merchantmay have overstocked paper within the month of March; consequently, theoffice equipment store may wish to provide a promotion to consumersliving within 5 miles from its store. The office equipment store may useits POS device to access the automated loyalty program platform to setup a loyalty program rule offering a free pack of paper with thepurchase of a printer toner. The automated loyalty program platform maythen automatically create a coupon indicating that a free pack of paperis offered with the purchase of a printer toner. The coupon may have theoffice equipment store's logo or other customized promotionalinformation. The automated loyalty program platform may then access adatabase containing the billing address of consumers that are accountholders within the payment processing system. If the billing address ofthe consumer is within five miles of the location of the officeequipment store, then the automated loyalty program platform addressesthe generated coupon to the consumer with the billing address withinfive miles of the location of the office equipment store. Similarly, theoffice equipment merchant may wish to send out a promotion of 15% off toall account holders within the payment processing system that havepurchased paper within a predetermined past time period. The automatedloyalty program platform may access and gather select data (i.e., e-mailaddresses) from a database containing past transaction history ofaccount holders within the payment processing system. In gathering theselect data, the platform may filter out those consumers that havepurchased paper from any office equipment store within the predeterminedpast time period. The automated loyalty program platform may thenautomatically address the 15% off promotion to each e-mail address ofeach consumer that purchased paper from any office equipment store, suchas from the competitors of the office equipment store that created thepromotion. The consumer may then apply the coupon in an Internetpurchase made via the office equipment store's webpage.

Various terms may be used herein, which are to be understood accordingto the following descriptions 1 through 8:

1. Acceptance point device includes a device capable of communicatingwith a payment device, where the acceptance point device can include aPoint of Device (POS) device, a smartcard, a payment card such as acredit or debit card with a magnetic strip and without a microprocessor,a keychain device such as the SPEEDPASS™ commercially available fromExxon-Mobil Corporation, a cellular phone, personal digital assistant(PDA), a pager, a security card, an access card, a smart media, atransponder, personal computer (PC), tablet PC, handheld specializedreader, set-top box, electronic cash register (ECR), automated tellermachine (ATM), virtual cash register (VCR), kiosk, security system, oraccess system;

2. Account holder or consumer includes any person or entity with anaccount and/or a payment device associated with an account, where theaccount is within a payment system;

3. Issuer includes any entity that issues one or more accounts and/orpayment devices;

4. Merchant includes any entity that supports an acceptance pointdevice;

5. Participant includes any consumer, person, entity, charitableorganization, machine, hardware, software, merchant or business whoaccesses and uses the system of the invention, such as any consumer(such as primary member and supplementary member of an aggregateconsumer account), retailer, manufacturer, and third-party provider, andany subset, group or combination thereof;

6. Redemption includes obtaining a reward using any portion of points,coupons, cash, foreign currency, gift, negotiable instruments, orsecurities;

7. Reward includes any discount, credit, good, service, package, event,experience (such as wine tasting, dining, travel), or any other item;and

8. Payment device includes a card, smartcard, ordinary credit or debitcards (with a magnetic strip and without a microprocessor), a keychaindevice (such as the SPEEDPASS™ device commercially available fromExxon-Mobil Corporation), cellular phone, personal digital assistant(PDA), pager, payment card, security card, access card, smart media, ortransponder, where each payment device can include a loyalty module witha computer chip with dedicated hardware, software, embedded software, orany combination thereof that is used to perform actions associated witha loyalty program.

It should be understood that the present invention can be implemented inthe form of control logic, in a modular or integrated manner, usingsoftware, hardware or a combination of both. The steps of a method,process, or algorithm described in connection with the implementationsdisclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Thevarious steps or acts in a method or process may be performed in theorder shown, or may be performed in another order. Additionally, one ormore process or method steps may be omitted or one or more process ormethod steps may be added to the methods and processes. An additionalstep, block, or action may be added in the beginning, end, orintervening existing elements of the methods and processes. Based on thedisclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thepresent invention.

The specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativemanner, rather than a restrictive one, and all such modifications areintended to be included within the scope of present invention. The stepsrecited in any of the method or process claims may be executed in anyorder and are not limited to the order presented in the claims. Theinvention has been described with reference to specific examples andimplementations for illustrative purposes only and it is understood thatvarious modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested topersons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit andpurview of this application and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: providing a point bank,comprising a data store, the point bank using standardized input andoutput format structures communicated to sponsors of loyalty programsfor communication with the point bank, the standardized input and outputformat structures allowing merchant devices of merchants to interact ina compatible fashion with the point bank; storing, in the data store,information regarding a first loyalty program; providing respectiveinterfaces for a plurality of sponsors including a first merchant, eachrespective interface implemented as a website of the correspondingsponsor, and each website configured to interact with customers, whereineach interface communicates with the data store using a standard inputand output protocol defined by the point bank; causing, via at least oneinterface, display of information regarding the first loyalty program ona first customer device of a first customer; comparing, by accessing thedata store using a transaction handler device, transaction data in arequest to process a transaction between a first merchant device of thefirst merchant and the first customer device with respectiverequirements of a plurality of loyalty programs including the firstloyalty program; accessing, via the data store, a customer profile ofthe first customer to implement loyalty program rules for the firstloyalty program; processing, via the transaction handler device, thetransaction data and the loyalty program rules to compute a firstloyalty currency amount and a second loyalty currency amount, the firstand second loyalty currency amounts corresponding to different types ofloyalty currencies; and in response to the transaction data meeting therequirements of the first loyalty program, awarding, by updating thedata store via the transaction handler device, the first loyaltycurrency amount to a first loyalty currency balance of the firstcustomer and the second loyalty currency amount to a second loyaltycurrency balance of the first customer.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein comparing the transaction data in the request to process thetransaction with the respective requirements of the plurality of loyaltyprograms comprises comparing an item in the transaction to loyalty datain a loyalty database to find an associated loyalty reward.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein processing the transaction data and theloyalty program rules comprises using data from at least one customertransaction history to compute the first and second loyalty currencyamounts.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first merchant is anissuer of a loyalty account of the first customer, the loyalty accountcomprising the first loyalty currency balance and the second loyaltycurrency balance.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first merchantis a merchant with whom the first customer has previously conductedtransactions.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising facilitatingredemption from the first loyalty currency balance via a customer-facingchannel.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating withthe first merchant via a customer-facing channel.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising facilitating redemption of at least a portion ofthe first or second loyalty currency balance via the at least oneinterface.
 9. A system comprising: at least one processor; and memorystoring instructions configured to instruct the at least one processorto: store, in a data store of a point bank, information regarding afirst loyalty program, the point bank using standardized input andoutput format structures communicated to sponsors of loyalty programsfor communication with the point bank, the standardized input and outputformat structures allowing merchant devices of merchants to interact ina compatible fashion with the point bank; provide respective interfacesfor a plurality of sponsors including a first merchant, each respectiveinterface implemented as a website of the corresponding sponsor, andeach website configured to interact with customers, wherein eachinterface communicates with the data store using a standard input andoutput protocol defined by the point bank; cause, via at least oneinterface, display of information regarding the first loyalty program ona first customer device of a first customer; compare, by accessing thedata store using a transaction handler device, transaction data in arequest to process a transaction between a first merchant device of thefirst merchant and the first customer device with respectiverequirements of a plurality of loyalty programs including the firstloyalty program; access, via the data store, a customer profile of thefirst customer to implement loyalty program rules for the first loyaltyprogram; process, via the transaction handler device, the transactiondata and the loyalty program rules to compute a first loyalty currencyamount and a second loyalty currency amount, the first and secondloyalty currency amounts corresponding to different types of loyaltycurrencies; and in response to the transaction data meeting therequirements of the first loyalty program, award, by updating the datastore via the transaction handler device, the first loyalty currencyamount to a first loyalty currency balance of the first customer and thesecond loyalty currency amount to a second loyalty currency balance ofthe first customer.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein comparing thetransaction data in the request to process the transaction with therespective requirements of the plurality of loyalty programs comprisescomparing an item in the transaction to loyalty data in a loyaltydatabase to find an associated loyalty reward.
 11. The system of claim9, wherein processing the transaction data and the loyalty program rulescomprises using data from at least one customer transaction history tocompute the first and second loyalty currency amounts.
 12. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the first merchant is an issuer of a loyalty account ofthe first customer, the loyalty account comprising the first loyaltycurrency balance and the second loyalty currency balance.
 13. The systemof claim 9, wherein the first merchant is a merchant with whom the firstcustomer has previously conducted transactions.
 14. The system of claim9, further comprising facilitating redemption from the first loyaltycurrency balance via a customer-facing channel.
 15. The system of claim9, further comprising communicating with the first merchant via acustomer-facing channel.
 16. The system of claim 9, further comprisingfacilitating redemption of at least a portion of the first or secondloyalty currency balance via the at least one interface.